The Pinnacles (Dorset)

The Pinnacles are two chalk formations, including a stack and a stump, located near Handfast Point, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, southern England.

The Pinnacles lie directly east of Studland, approximately 200 metres south of Old Harry Rocks and about 4 kilometres northeast of Swanage.

The bands of stone have been gradually eroded over the centuries, some of the earlier stacks having fallen while new ones have been formed by the breaching of narrow isthmuses.

These are also part of the same chalk band and only a few thousand years ago were connected to Ballard Down.

To form the stacks, the sea gradually eroded along the joints and bedding planes where the softer chalk meets harder bedrock of the rock formations to create a cave.